Relocation packages for employees moving to a new job or relocating to a new city don’t contain as many perks as they once did, reflecting the still struggling housing market. Guaranteed buyouts of executives’ homes aren’t as common nowadays as homes lag longer on the market and companies don’t want to get stuck owning them.
Prior to the housing crisis, companies "were much more willing to participate in the real estate costs for employees because they knew almost as soon as you could get the sign in your yard, it would be sold," says Susan Schneider, president of Worldwide Employee Relocation Council.
Nowadays, one-third of 100 companies surveyed across the country say they’ve changed their relocation programs in 2009 and 2010, according to a Worldwide ERC survey. Some companies say they now offer to pay a portion of the loss of a home sale, which ranges from $10,000 to $100,000 or possibly even more, depending on the employee’s status. Other companies say they are seeking to hire locally so they don’t have to get stuck with “moving woes and costs,” according to an article by the Gannett News Service. Companies also report even trying to learn more about employees’ real estate commitments prior to giving them a job offer.
However, companies are reporting relocations rebounding, after mostly stalling in recent years. About 30 percent of 1,000 relocation managers say their company plans to move workers this year, which is the highest percentage since 2005, according to a recent survey by Atlas Van Lines. The Midwest is the top destination of transfers, the survey finds.
Source: “Relocation Costs Perk of the Past,” Gannett
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